Katsuta leads as inspired Neuville impresses
Toyota driver Katsuta, starting sixth on the road, produced a strong and consistent pace across Friday morning’s four stages to take a 2.9s lead over Neuville at the midday tyre fitting zone. Reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera managed to drive around an ill-handling Toyota to sit third, 3.3s adrift, ahead of Hyundai’s Ott Tanak [+4.1] […]
The rally test that could provide motorsport’s fossil free fuel «end game» solution
Zero, a synthetic fuel producer headed up by former McLaren, Mercedes and Williams Formula 1 technical chief Paddy Lowe and Professor Nilay Shah, is gearing up to test its synthetic fuel in the motorsport sphere for the first time this autumn. The company, founded in 2020, is set to fuel a 2B Motorsport-run Porsche 991 […]
Neuville tames Super Special to claim early lead
The Hyundai driver managed to navigate through the 2.94km beachside asphalt stage, 0.6s faster than nearest rival Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier. Without a service before tomorrow morning’s gravel stages, crews were forced to tackle the spectator test in tyre saving mode to protect rubber for Friday’s stages. “It is difficult weekend ahead of us [starting first […]
WRC drivers expect Portugal to deliver «most competitive» victory fight
This weekend marks the start of the traditional gravel rally season welcoming the strongest Rally1 field of the season to date, comprising five previous Portugal winners. Toyota has elected to field both its part-time drivers in the same event for the first time, with reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera, a two-time Portugal winner (2022, 2023), […]
Toyota not “expecting too many changes” to WRC technical rules for 2025
The WRC is currently gripped by discussions over the technical rules for next year after teams strongly opposed the FIA’s proposal to make changes to Rally1 and Rally2 cars in a bid to boost entry numbers at events. The FIA intends to remove hybrid power from Rally1 cars and further reduce the performance of the […]
Gravel season “definitely” an opportunity for Tanak to ignite WRC title bid
The Hyundai driver heads to Portugal this week — which marks the start of the WRC’s traditional gravel season — sitting fourth in the championship and 33 points adrift of championship leader and team-mate Thierry Neuville. After uncharacteristic errors in Monte Carlo and Sweden, Tanak showed signs of his pace in Kenya before an unfortunate […]
WRC Sardinia schedule sheds light on part-time driver programmes
The Italian gravel rally, which hosts the sixth round of the championship, has confirmed an eight-car Rally 1 field primed to tackle the event’s new 48-hour sprint format from 31 May – 2 June. Eight-time world champion Ogier is on the list, meaning he will contest three consecutive events for the first time this season, […]
2025 WRC Rally1 prototype “not so exciting” after first test
Evans was offered a brief taste of the future when he piloted a modified Toyota GR Yaris during his pre-event Croatia Rally test last month. Fan vision captured from the test showcased the GR Yaris running with revised aerodynamics centred around the rear wing, which appeared to conform to the FIA’s proposed 2025 regulations. It […]
Toyota shuffles its WRC manufacturer points scorers for Portugal
Reigning constructor world champions Toyota will field both its part-time drivers in the same event for the first time this season in Portugal next week as it looks to widen its seven-point gap over Hyundai in the championship. As a result, Toyota has nominated current world champion Rovanpera and eight-time world champion Ogier to score […]